Hostage
by AgentGabs
Summary: A one-shot inspired by the sneak peek for "Cops & Robbers".
1. Chapter 1

Choices, it always leads to that. The choices one makes in life, the paths you take and the roads you decide to follow... So it doesn't surprise me that these current choices I've made have not been the most ideal ones. But what else was I supposed to do? It wasn't like she left me much of a choice.

Ok, that's not fair. Not fair to either of us to blame her for everything. It's not like I didn't see it coming.

But this, I don't think anyone saw it coming.

I know he didn't see it coming. And I probably shouldn't have felt that great sense of pleasure at putting the gun to his head. After all, wasn't that my creed? My vow? To cause no harm to others?

We did not come into this situation today with the intention of hurting anyone, it was supposed to be an easy in-and-out operation. We get what we need and we're out before anyone gets hurt, before the calvary is called in.

But finding him, hiding there behind a desk with his phone pressed to his ear. It was almost too tempting.

"UP" I said as I pressed the gun into the back of his skull. As he stood, he raised one hand into the air but kept the other pressed against his face, cradling his phone against his ear.

I had to keep him facing forward, I knew that even with the medical mask over my face he'd still recognize me.

Keeping the gun against his head I reached for his phone. Taking it from him, I bring the phone to my ear.

I guess I should have expected to hear her voice, who else would have been talking to?

"Who is this? Where is Castle!"

Despite the fear and worry behind her voice, she kept it strong and steady, demonstrating that she was in charge of the situation.

One evening, long ago, we had what was probably the second conversation dealing with her job. I remember it was about a highly hypothetical situation about hostages. She explained to me the procedure that NYPD usually takes in that type of situation, how they give the illusion of power to the hostage taker even though at that point the police has clear control of everything. They do this because in the end, the sole mission of the NYPD is to get the hostages out alive and safe. The capture and prosecution of the criminals is secondary.

Who would have guessed that all those months later we'd be playing out that very situation.

Before I answer her, I push Castle to move towards the general direction of where we are keeping the hostages. My partners in this have already secured his mother and now are making sure he doesn't cause us much trouble.

Turning now to face the entrance of the bank, I say into the phone.

"He's alright now Kate, they're all alright."

I hear her gasp on the other line, I guess its a good thing she can still recognize my voice.

"Josh?"

* * *

><p>AN: Heee, quick one-shot making Josh the bad guy!

Though I highly doubt he'd ever do this, or AM&CO doing this in the show (though it would have been brilliant!)

This idea came form tumblr. itswhatmakesyouextraordinary posted the idea of what if the 4th robber in the new sneak peek for "Cops & Robbers" was Josh and my imagination sorta ran with it.

I don't know if I should continue this story... let me know.

And I'm STILL working on Undercover Kate, its just not flowing as nicely as I would want, which is why there is a major lack of postings. Sorry :(


	2. Chapter 2

"Josh, where is Castle? What is going on?"

I can't help but laugh at the fear in her voice. In the 5 months since she broke things off- I guess you could say I've become a little cynical about things.

"I already told you Kate, everyone is fine and the situation is fine."

As I begin to placate her I turn to look back at my companions as they bind and gag Castle and his mother, moving them to sit on the floor with the other bank patrons and employees.

"As much as I'd love to stay and chat Kate, I really need to get back to work."

"Josh wait-"

"I'll give you a call a little later, it was great talking with you!"

I laugh again as I hang up on her. As much as I'd love to push her buttons, there really is no time for that and much work to do.

Putting the phone in my back pocket I walk over to the hostages. The fear on their faces is clear and it give me a bit of a rush. Seeing the glint of the silver duct tape across their mouths brings me a sense of comfort, and a thought pops into my mind. Will these people ever be able to look at something so simple a silver duct tape without going into some painful episode of PTSD? Will the silver glint cause them all to flashback to this moment where they wondered and prayed to get out of here alive?

I shake the thought out of my head. I shouldn't delve too deeply into the psychological effects of what I'm doing, the effects on me or these people.

I walk over to where Castle is sitting. He's been starring at me this entire time. The look on his face somewhere between anger and disbelief.

I lower myself on to my haunches, bringing myself eye to eye with the man. I still don't see what Kate finds so amazing about this man. Sure he writes a decent best seller every now and again, but other than that?

As my face comes level to his, he squints his eyes at me. I'm sure if I were to pull the tape off his lips he'd either spit at me or have some very interesting things to say to me.

"You're probably wondering what happened right?"

I get no response from him.

"That writer's mind of yours is working through all the scenarios, trying to come up with something that makes sense."

He moves his face closer to mine. I can see that as he does, he starts to squirm.

I laugh, the man is trying to get out of his restraints.

"You'd like nothing more to get your hands on me right now, right Castle? Well I hate to disappoint you, but that won't be happening today."

At that moment, his phone decides to ring.

I stand up and reach into my back pocket. I already know its Kate calling back, needing to know what is going on in here.

Before answering the phone I yell out to my companions. "Doctors, we should probably hurry things up, I'm sensing we'll be having company soon."

I see the other doctors rush to finish what they were doing.

Looking down at the phone, I see Kate's picture staring back at me. It's a recent one, I can tell because she looks completely different from the way I left her. Her hair is tied back away from her face and she has this amazing smile. Only he could ever get her to smile like that... the bastard.

Angrily I press the call button and put the phone to my ear.

"Yes?"

"Josh? Listen to me, I need you to tell me what is going on in there."

I have a feeling I'm going to be in stitches by the day's end, particularly if she continues to use that tone of voice, there's just something about it, the seriousness in it that makes me laugh.

"Well Kate, you remember I was never one to string you along, so I'm going to tell you this as plainly as possible. I am robbing this bank, I have your writer and his mother here, as well as about a dozen or so other hostages and if you don't do exactly as I say, no one will be making it out of here alive."

She's silent on the other line, she's still there because I can hear her breathing.

"I don't want to hurt anyone Kate, so just let me and my team do what we need to do and we'll be out of your hair before you know it."

"Josh you know I can't let you do that."

I chuckle at her sincerity.

"Eh, I figured it was worth a shot. I have a funny feeling that by now you've probably already have ordered the building to be surrounded right? Following the rules of the NYPD's procedure book? Guess I'm lucky that I have a pretty good memory, or that I was actually paying attention when you explained everything to me... all those months ago."

"Josh, wait- no- if I had thought that you-"

"Thought that I'd what? Suddenly snap? Suddenly leave behind my career, my reputation to become a petty bank thief? Oh Katie, I would have hoped that being around your writer for so long, your imagination would have improved a little. I guess not.

"Just know this Kate. The hostages are fine, no one is hurt, they're just a little scared. My team and I have every intention of leaving things like that. We're gonna get what we came in here for and then leave. But know this, if any of you make a move or try and get in here... well let's just say that things will come to an explosive ending."

I hang up the phone on her again and walk towards the duffel bag one of the other doctors had left on the ground. I reach inside and pull out a small brick of c4. Checking that everything looks alright, I take the bag and begin to strap a brick to each hostage. Unfortunately we didn't plan on having that many people in the bank so some are spared.

With one brick left I walk back to Castle and his mother.

"You're in luck Castle, only one left. Now which one of you gets it, you or your mother?"

I know I said I wouldn't harm the hostages, but having the chance at truly messing with Castle is not an opportunity I'd easily give up, though I do feel a bit guilty having his mother in the middle of this. I watch as her eyes widen at the sight of the brick and the wires attached to it.

As I move towards her, Castle starts to fight his restraints again, the tape muffling his yells. I stop and move back towards him.

"What, is there something you want to say?" I say, chuckling at the situation. He just glares at me in response.

Bending down I begin to strap the c4 to his chest. Out of the corner of my eye I can see his mother start crying.

I walk back to her and in my calmest voice I tell her that nothing will happen to her and her son as long as the NYPD does what they are told.

Leaving the two I walk towards the back of the bank and see that my companions are basically done with their job. Turning to the fair-haired doctor I ask, "did you secure the packet?"

"Yes," he nods, "all 5 of them were located just where you said they'd be."

"Good, now we just to get out escape plan in motion."

I leave them to pack everything up and get moving out the back. This robbery is going so much more smoothly than I had expected. Even though the building is now probably surrounded, I'm pretty sure that the NYPD has no clue of the underground tunnel system this bank has, connecting it to the old subway lines. It was almost an accident how we stumbled upon it during out planning. By the time the SWAT team has the balls to bust in here and attempt to take us down, we'll be long gone.

I walk back to the hostages to check on them and take on last look at Castle and his mother.

I hunch down again to his level.

"You know, despite everything I feel that I almost owe you an explanation Castle. I can already tell you have NO idea what is going on or why, and once you get out of here, its gonna kill you trying to figure it out."

I check my watch, realizing I have about another good 5 minutes before our escape plan gets put into motion.

"I was a cardiac surgeon Castle. I was good at my job, well respected and highly sought after. I was very good at my job. I fixed people's hearts for a living, their broken hearts. But a week after Kate's heart was fixed, she wanted nothing more to do with me. She left me, giving me some half-assed excuse of how she couldn't be everything she wanted to be in our relationship, that she still had walls that needed to be broken down before she could let herself pursue this with me. I don't know what kind of line she was trying to feed me, but I didn't want any of it."

A look of recognition flashes across his face.

"Oh she fed you the same line too? Huh, and here I was thinking she was giving me that load of bull just to get with you. Well the classic line we're going with is that I used to fix hearts, I fixed hers but at the cost of my own. Being a surgeon just doesn't do it for me anymore, but this does."

I look back at my watch, 2 minutes left.

As I stand I say, "Good luck Castle, you're gonna need it with Kate."

* * *

><p>As Josh walked away from Castle, Castle began to fuss with his restraints again.<p>

After a minute of struggling Castle was able to work himself into a standing position, though his hands were still bound behind him.

He walked away from the group of hostages, trying to see what was left behind by the robbers.

By the time he saw the timer attached to a pack of c4 by the front door of the bank, it was too late. The counter was down to :01.

* * *

><p>Kate Beckett was standing outside the bank with the rest of the SWAT and hostage negotiation team when the explosion shook the area.<p>

The feeling of dread filled her as she watched as the doors to the bank were essentially blown off by the force of the explosion.

Not caring for her own safety, she rushed in to the bank with her gun drawn.

As she entered the bank, she peered through the smoke and almost collapsed at the sight in front of her.

* * *

><p>Castle lay on his back unsure what was going on. All he felt was pain and warmth all along his chest.<p>

There was a constant ringing in his ears and his lungs burned with every breath he took.

After a few moments everything around him just stopped.

* * *

><p>Kate ran to Castle's side, putting her hands on his chest she looked for the source of the blood that was currently soaking his shirt.<p>

There, right above his heart was a gash and a piece of shrapnel from the explosion was embedded within.

"No no no no no no." She pleaded as she tore the duct tape from his lips.

She didn't know if to put pressure on the wound or leave it.

Unable to reach around to free his hands, she just cradled his body in her arms.

"Castle, please Castle. Stay with me Castle!" She pleaded as Castle's eyes slowly came to focus on her face.

She didn't feel the tears well up in her eyes, nor notice as the rolled down her face.

"Don't leave me Castle" she said as she moved to hold his face in her hands.

Castle just continued to look at her.

"Stay with me." She whipsered.

"Rick, I love you."

His eyes finally focused fully on her, and a small smile formed on his face.

"I love you, Rick."

As the words left her mouth, she felt his body go limp in her arms and watched as his eyes closed for the last time.

* * *

><p>AN: Yes, he's dead. Yes, Josh got away. Yes, I'm a terrible person for doing that. No, I won't continue the story. Yes, I'm aware most of you probably don't like this ending and Yes, I'm prepared for the rush of negative reviews and opinions and such.

Actually, despite how rushed the fic reads to me, I actually kinda like it. And maybe I identify a little too much with Josh in this as well (not that I'm about go start robbing banks... though with the state of the economy...). I'm sure I could flesh this out a little more. Expand on Josh, explain more on why he's robbing banks, what was in those 5 packets...

Could also maybe do this all again but from Kate's or Rick's POV. But I like where it is now. So yeah. This story is complete.

I'm not sorry for killing Castle, nor am I sorry for essentially stealing the end of "Knockdown" and reversing it :)

I hope you guys enjoyed it, and if you didn't :( sorry.

Now on to figure out what the hell I'm doing with Undercover Kate.


End file.
